It is common, in the electronics industry, to use right angled connectors for electrical connection between two printed circuit boards, between circuit boards and a backplane, or between a printed circuit board and conducting wires. The right angled connector typically has a large plurality of pin receiving terminals and, at right angles thereto, pins (for example compliant pins) that make electrical contact with a printed circuit board. Post headers on another printed circuit board or a post header connector can thus be plugged into the pin receiving terminals making electrical contact therebetween. As the needs of the industry expand, the connectors need to have additional capability, that is more terminals and signal lines. It is desirable, however, that the exterior dimensions at the mating face of the more highly dense connectors are essentially the same size as those of the connectors having fewer terminals. Thus, the spacing and number of header connectors that can be mounted on the mother board or back plane can remain essentially the same.
Cost effective and simple designs of right angle connectors have been discussed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,066,236 and 5,496,183. In such connectors the modular design makes it easy to produce shorter or longer connectors without redesigning and tooling up for a whole new connector but by producing only a new housing part into which a plurality of identical terminal modules are assembled.